No Pandas in USA in near future, All to be sent back to China

For the first time, the National Zoo in Washington DC would not have any panda.

The Zoo had three giant pandas for the past 50 years and according to the reports, all of them would soon be sent back to China much to the disappointment of the panda lovers in the US.

Reports said that the three pandas would be sent back to China in December this year. The Zoo had a three-year agreement with China’s wildlife authorities which allowed them to keep the pandas for three years. The three-year period would end in December this year.

With the ones in Washington DC gone, only four giant pandas will remain in the Atalanta Zoo, which is expected to shift back by next year, unless both countries strike a new deal among themselves, the report added.

Chee Meng Tan, who is an associate professor at the University of Nottingham in Malaysia and studies panda diplomacy, said, “This is perhaps Beijing's way of signalling to the West that they may not be very happy with how things are going.”

He added, “This may be one way of telling people that you're not treating us very well, so maybe we'll pull out our pandas.”

Before this, the pandas from San Diego and Memphis had left in 2019 and April 2023, respectively, the report added.

The first instance of China's Panda Diplomacy can be dated back to 1941 but it wasn't until President Nixon visited China in 1972 that the US were rewarded with any. After his visit, the US were gifted two pandas which were kept at the National Zoo in Washington DC, the report added.

Over the years, beyond political motives, the pandas – named Mei Xiang and Tian – have also served the purpose of entertainment. Recently, their 3-year-old male cub, Xiao Qi Ji had also become a centre of attraction for the crowd of the zoo.